Apparatus for handling photographic films.



' F. G. KUGLBR. APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PHOTOGRAPHIGFILMS.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 22, 1908,.

Patented 006.4,1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

FIG.

JIHIIHIIIHHIT INVE NTOR W -THTF WITNESSES: A A A2 'F. G. KUGLER. APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PHOTOGRAPHIG FILMS.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 22, 1908. 971,543, Patented 0013.4, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 2.

IIIIA 10 INVENTOR WITNESSES; V @i y FRANK G. KUGLER,

or NEWARK,

TIE 2V JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PHOTOGRAPHIC FILMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 22, 1908.

Patented Oct. 4, 1910.

Serial No. 434,405.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK G. KUGLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Handling Photographic Films, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for conveniently holding photographic films and handling them in the successful treatments with developer water, hypo or fixer, and wash water and in drying them.

An important feature lies in the provision of a rack in which a number of films may be carried in extended form at a time so that by dipping the rack into the several liquids or moving it into a drying chamber or space all such films will be handled at once and with great rapidity. The complete rack may be made up of any desired number of holders carrying each a single film and each holder may be separately numbered so as to identify readily and with certainty the diifcrent films under treatment. The films are preferably arranged in substantially vertical planes and are out of contact with each other so that they permit of very effective washing and avoid the depositing of sedi ment on the films.

Other improvements are referred to in detail hereinafter.

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention.

Figure 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section of a rack carrying several films. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of a rack made up of three individual film holders, parts of the mechanism being removed to make the construction clear. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of a rack or basket made up of six individual holders. Fig. 4 is a plan partly in section of a slide for stretching the films. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section through the slide. Figs. (3 and 7 are views similar to Figs. 4 and 5 illustrating another style of slide. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal vertical sect-i011 of a part of the apparatus showing another style of slide. Fig. 9 is a similar view showing still another style of slide. Figs. 2 and 2 are respectively an elevation and a plan of av device for holding the edge of a film. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of another device for the same purpose.

Referring to the embodiments of the invention illustrated each holder, which I designate as a whole by the letters A A etc, is approximately half the length of the longest film to be handled. For ordinary small films of 72 inches length each holder will be a little more than 36 inches long. It consists of means for fastening the two ends of the film at one point and drawing out the film to form a loop and holding it firmly extended so that it may be very easily handled. \Vith this arrangement, films of any size less than the maximum for which the machine is designed can be carried in the machine. In fact each holder may be designed to carry two or more short films instead of one long one. Each holder is separately numbered as indicated by the numerals 1, :2, 3, 4, etc. in Fig. 3 so that a photographer developing a number of films for different parties for example can readily find the films of each party after they have been de veloped and dried without having to do more than note the numbers of the holders upon which such films were applied in the beginning. The several holders may be fastened together at their bases by means of tie rods B holding them together in baskets or racks containing any desired number of individual holders and they may be conveniently carried about by means of a pivoted basket handle C which carries at each end a bar D adapted to engage the upper ends of uprights provided at the opposite ends of the individual holders. Various other means of grouping the individual holders so that anumber of them may be handled as a unit may be provided.

Each holder consists of a guide or trough E with uprights F F provided with studs or buttons G adapted to be engaged in slots in the cross bars D. At one end is a fastener which may consist for example of a leaf spring H bearing against a stop J and bent around said stop to a slight extent and adapted to grip the edge or edges of a film K between the spring and the stop. Adjustable along the guide is an upright L engaging a bight of the film so as to draw it out as explained. The guides E are preferably smooth on their under sides so that when at rest in a tank they extend horizontally and the uprights extend vertically with the width of the film vertical. Permanent spacers such as the corrugated uprights M may be provided at suitable intervals and in addition the bottom of the guide may be provided with one or more apertures N in which the lower ends of removable spacers may be set. These spacers come within the loop, that is to say, they contact with the film at the back so as to do no possible harm and along very narrow lines. The face of the film is not in contact with anything.

The adjustment of the upright L may be effected in a great variety of ways. Preferably it is mounted upon a slide O and braced by a diagonal brace I the slide O being held on the base E of the holder by means of over-hanging flanges Q.

I The slide O as shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive is substantially a box withthe upright L fastened firmly thereon and braced against the top of it and with a pair of pivoted pawls R normally projecting from the side to engage the ratchet teeth S which are formed in the sides of the guide E by pressing out the material in the form shown or by cutting openings therein or in any similar way. The pawls R are pivoted at T and pressed out through suitable openings in the sides of the box O by a spring U. Their operating ends V are bent forward through a slot in the top of the box. By pressing the ends V together the pawls are withdrawn into the box and the latter may be slid forward so as to release the film. Or the adjustment of the upright L may be effected by means of a slide O (Figs. 6 and 7) having an extension X in the form of a rack engaging a pinion Y which is fixed at a suitable point between the flanges Q of the guide or base of the machine. IVhen the pinion Y is turned sufficiently to bring the upright L to the proper position, a set screw Z bearing against the base of the guide E will hold the pinion and the upright fixed. Or as in Fig. 8 a slide O may be connected by means of a spring a with a second slide O carrying the upright L so as to pull the latter with a spring tension and allow for contraction or extension of the film and also avoid any danger of tearing the film by endeavor-ing to stretch it too tight. The spring a instead of being connected to the adjustable slide O may extend entirely to the rear end of the guide E and be fastened to a fixed support there so as to automatically extend the film to its greatest length. Or the extension may be effected as in Fig. 9 by means of a lazy-tongs Z) interposed between the adjustable upright L and an upright 0 arranged somewhere inside of the fastening device H. Locking pawls (Z may be provided for locking the lazy-tongs in any. desired position of extension.

For films of more than ordinary length such for example as moving picture films a rack may be provided with a number of holders about the uprights of which the film may be wound back and forth a number of times passing continuously from one holder to the next.

The upright position effects a perfect washing of the film and the thorough elimination of the hypo which naturally runs down off the film while it is being washed. In treating the films on edge in this way they necessarily require a deeper bath of developing and fixing liquids than in the ordinary method of development in which they are laid flat in a tray containing only a comparatively shallow depth of the liquid. The tank in which the liquids are carried however need not take up any more horizontal space than the ordinary tray, though there would be with the present apparatus several times as many films undergoing developu ment at once, as can be treated 1n the orchnary shallow tray. There is a further ad vantage in this feature in that for a given quantity of developer there is proportionately less surface exposure and a reduction of the deteriorating efiect of the atmosphere.

Instead of the uprights L of Fig. 1, a modified style of upright as shown in Figs. 2 and 2 may be used. This upright L is divided into two parts preferably pivoted together at the top and tapered at the bottom so that when brought together they may be thrust in a hole in the base of the apparatus and thus held in position and also held together. They may serve identically the same purpose as the simple upright L of Fig. 1, holding the bight of a looped film; or they may be used with a shorter film, its edge being inserted between the two parts of the upright before they are brought together and being thus clamped to the upright. A similar device may be substituted for the clamping uprights H, J at the end of the apparatus. The lower end of the upright L may fit in a hole either in the fixed base of the apparatus or in a slide such as O. Or another style of upright, as shown in Fig. 2, may be used comprising a pair of rods L engaged at their upper end by a ring 6 carrying a brace P, the upper ends of the rods L being fixed in a thumb piece F by which they may be turned, and their lower ends being fixed in a ratchet g engaged by a pawl h, the whole being preferably mounted upon a slide O the same as the simple upright L of Fig. 1. The rods L may also serve merely to engage the bight of a looped film or to grip the edge of a shorter film. In the latter case it is only necessary to introduce the edge of the film between the two rods L and to turn them slightly, whereupon the film will be held with suificient firmness for all practical purposes.

-What I claim is i i v 1. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a guide adapted to rest upon the bottom of a tank when in use with its length extending horizontally, and a pair of uprights both carried by said guide and one adjustable along said guide relatively to the other, said uprights extending vertically when said guide is in the position of rest, and adapted to hold a film with its width vertical.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a one-piece guide adapted to rest when in use with its length extending horizontally, and a pair of uprights both carried by said guide and one adjustable along said guide relatively to the other, said uprights extending vertically when said guide is in the position of rest, and adapted to hold a film with its width vertical.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a guide adapted to rest when in use with its length extending horizontally, and a pair of uprights both carried by said guide and one adjustable along said guide relatively to the other, said uprights extending vertically when said guide is in the position of rest, and adapted to hold a film with its width vertical, and means at opposite ends of and above said guide for conveniently taking hold of the same in the position stated.

4. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a plurality of long narrow guides adapted to rest alongside of each other when in use with their lengths extending horizontally, and a pair of uprights carried by each of said guides, one adjust able along said guide relatively 'to the other, said uprights extending vertically when said guide is in the position of rest, and adapted to hold a film with its width vertical, and

] means for uniting said guides in the position stated.

5. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of guides E each carrying a fixed upright F and means for clamping the two ends of a film thereto, and an adjustable upright- L adapted to hold the bight of said film, and means for uniting a number of said guides in a compact rack, each pair of said uprights being adapted to support a film in a vertical plane, so that in said rack a number of films can be carried in a short width.

6. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a one-piece guide E having a smooth flat under side so as to lie flat on the bottom of a tank, an upright F at one end of said guide, and an adjustable upright L carried by said guide, said uprights being adapted to support a film with its width vertical.

7. In an apparatus of the character described in combination a guide, a fixed upright at one end of said guide for clamping the edges of a film and an adjustable upright carried by said guide for engaging and drawing out the bight of a film and spacers between said clamping device and said adjustable upright.

8. In a machine of the class described, means for clan'iping the two ends of a film, means for drawing out the intermediate portion of the film and a spacer adapted to lie between the two parts of the film when it is drawn out.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK G. KUGLER.

lVitnesses DOMINGO A. USINA, THEODORE T. SNELL. 

